Corazon
by clair beaubien
Summary: Vin has visitors in town. THe Seven are amazed when they realize who it is. WIP. This story is set in my Choices universe.
1. Chapter 1

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Who?"

"Vin." Buck pointed with his chin across the street. Chris looked to see what he was talking about. He saw Vin walking into the bathhouse with what were probably fresh clothes over his arm.

"If I was a betting man, I'd say he's gonna have a bath." Chris said. He and Buck were enjoying a hot afternoon in the shade on the boardwalk.

"It's only Thursday."

"I guess it'll be less crowded then."

After a while, Vin came out of the bathhouse with what were probably his dirty clothes over his arm, and he walked back to the boarding house a few doors down. After another minute he came out, stopped, looked down at himself and went back in. When he came back out this time, he was wearing a different shirt under his fringed jacket.

He went into Mrs. Potter's store and returned with a small package wrapped in brown paper. He took that into the boarding house but was out again in a minute, carrying the package. He brought it back to Mrs. Potter's and after several minutes he reappeared carrying a larger package wrapped in brown paper.

"He does seem anxious about something." Buck said. They watched and just as Vin got to the front door of the boardinghouse, he stopped, considered his package, and turned around to head back to the general store.

"I take that back," Buck amended. "He's not anxious. He's downright befuddled."

Another few minutes brought Vin back out of the store, carrying either the same package or one exactly the same size and shape. He took that one into the boardinghouse and when he reappeared, he was empty handed. He crossed the street, walking toward Chris and Buck, but his eyes swept down the long street as though looking for something.

"So Vin, what's got you shined up like a new penny in the middle of the week?" Buck asked. Vin either didn't hear or just ignored the question.

"What time have you got on that gold watch a'yours?" he asked. Buck pulled the time piece out and checked.

"It's about quarter to five." He replaced the watch in his pocket. "Don't tell me you're meeting some lovely young lady today."

"She's late." Vin said, but his remark was directed to Chris.

"Not hardly, and not by much." Chris told him.

"Maybe a telegraph came in. I should check."

"Joe woulda found one of us if there was."

"Maybe a bridge washed out."

"It hasn't rained in two weeks."

Buck watched the conversation like he was watching a game of horseshoes.

"What are we talking about here?" he asked, but Vin still didn't answer him.

"I'm gonna go check the telegraph." He said, and headed down the street. Buck took his chance to ask Chris,

"Tell me he's meeting a pretty woman here today."

"All right." Chris nodded and in a voice that was either serious or sarcastic, he told Buck, "_He's meeting a pretty woman here today_."

As Buck took a few seconds to decide whether Chris was telling the truth, the sound of fighting and gunfire from the livery set the men on their feet and hurrying to the scene.

* * *

Ezra heard the commotion but didn't look up from his cards. Gunfire was as common as dust in this town; if he was needed, he'd be summoned. In the meantime, the game he had going here at the hotel was far too lucrative to abandon. As he set down the winning hand against two cowboys, one drummer, and a well dressed man with a glass eye and shabby boots, he heard a woman's voice:

"This establishment is a disgrace. Take my valise back to the carriage immediately; until the proprietor proves to me that the accommodations here are pristine, I will set neither my person nor my personal property down."

"Mother?" Ezra had to ask, even though the woman's voice carried a slight Spanish accent.

The woman fixed him with a significant glare. She was perhaps in her fifties, dressed in what Ezra could tell was the finest fabric and latest style, with the daintiest of feathered hats pushed fashionably forward over her dark hair which was pulled back into a mass of ringlets barely constrained by a fragile looking lacy snood. One hand rested at arm's length on the carved knob of her ebony and silk parasol.

"I beg your pardon?" She didn't ask the question as much as challenge his remark. Behind her, a tall man with brown hair that hung down to his finely-tailored shoulders was carrying a small leather - _fine_ leather – trunk back outside.

Ezra pocketed his winnings and stood up. He didn't know who this woman was or what she was doing in town but she was definitely well-heeled and worth getting to know.

"Forgive me Madam, for a moment you reminded me of my dear mother." He walked around the table to stand near her. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Ezra. P. Standish."

She stared at him a moment, as though waiting for him to go on.

"You are not the proprietor?"

"No, sadly. It was a most tragic occurrence as you might imagine. You see -."

"Are you _acquainted_ with the proprietor?"

"Well, yes. I believe I might be able to -."

"You will procure a clean chair for me and then inform the proprietor that his presence is required immediately."

"Why yes. Of course." Ezra agreed. He chased the drummer out of his chair since it was the closest, and made a show of dusting it with his linen handkerchief before placing it out of the way of the door and indicating that the lady should seat herself. Ramrod straight, she lowered herself into the chair, the silk taffeta of her bustled skirts rustling noisily in the otherwise quiet room.

"I shall wait here."

"Of course, Madam. I will return as promptly as may be possible."

As Ezra turned began to turn away, Chris, Buck and Vin came through the swinging door. Larabee was relatively clean, Buck had a layer of dust on his clothes, but Vin's coat, shirt and trousers were positively thick with the stuff. Whatever ruckus had occurred, it seemed Mr. Tanner had quite borne the brunt of it.

"Next time Lloyd Bannerman wants t'steal his horse outta the livery without paying his bill," Vin was complaining, "One a'the others of you can wrestle with him all you want. I ain't been so dusty since I don't know when."

He punctuated his remark by slapping the front of his jacket and raising a cloud of dust that nearly engulfed the elegant lady sitting nearby.

She stood and turned to stare at Vin. Vin stared back. Ezra expected the woman to fling a curt rebuke at the fringed dustweed. Vin pulled his hat off and held it in a death grip in trembling hands. Ezra expected him to offer an immediate apology. Instead, in hushed tones usually reserved for holy places or religious visions, he spoke one word:

_"Mama?"_

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Ezra actually felt his jaw drop open. He was dumbfounded, not only that Mr. Tanner actually did have a mother, not only that she absolutely dripped with elegance, refinement – and apparently a great deal of money - but mostly because that pristine paragon of cleanliness immediately enfolded the dust enshrouded tracker in a hug that surely would've broken the bones of a lesser man.

A river of words flowed out of her, all in Spanish and most of which Ezra could not make heads or tails of. Vin bent down to receive and reciprocate the bone-crushing embrace. He only said one word, over and over again.

"_Mama_."

* * *

Vin and his Mama held onto each other for so long, Chris didn't think they'd ever let go. Not that he blamed them; Vin had told him that it'd been over two years since he saw her. And from everything Vin had said about her, Chris didn't get the impression she did anything by halves.

Shortly after Vin's stepfather Tom had visited him a few months before, there'd begun a flurry of letters and telegrams into this little town, addressed to Vin Tanner. Some were even to _Uncle Vin_. Usually with each letter, Vin would ask Chris' help when he couldn't make out a word. One particular letter from his brother Max had the surprising opening of 'Dear Stinky' which Vin refused to explain. And Sofia's letters and telegrams always bore the endearment 'Corazón'.

A less intense flurry of letters made their way from Vin's hand back to his family, and between them all, a family visit had been arranged, and now here stood the end result. Two people, mother and son, so happy and relieved to be in each other's company, it began to look like they'd never come apart.

Finally, just as things were beginning to get a little awkward for the waiting men, Sofia pushed Vin back.

"Here, stand here, let me look at you. Let me see this grown man who used to be my little boy."

Vin blushed. Even under the dust there was no missing the crimson cast that came over his face. He ducked his head, then reached a hand out to the front of her dress, which was now covered in dust.

"Mama – I'm sorry. I'm got you all dirty. You shouldn't have hugged me, I'm too dusty."

"Nonsense, Corazón. You're perfect. You're always perfect. Now, these men must be some of the friends you've written me about. I would be delighted to meet them."

"Sure. This is Chris Larabee, Buck Wilmington and Ezra Standish. Fellas –" He took a deep breath, "This is my Mama."

"It's an honor to finally meet you Mrs. Silverlake." Chris told her.

"As it is an honor to meet you, Mr. Larabee. My Corazón's letters have been filled with nothing but your praises."

"Now Mama, that ain't exactly true." Vin started to argue. "I told you lotsa other stuff besides Chris here."

"This is your Mama?" Buck asked. He sounded delighted. "Well Ma'am, it is just an absolute pleasure to meet you." He moved toward her but found the end of a parasol poked into his chest.

"Young man, you are impossibly filthy. Do not even consider touching me." With a short push of her parasol, she set him back a step and held her arm out to Vin. "Come Corazón. I've sent Tomasito back to the carriage with my luggage. We must find him."

Vin replaced his hat and took his mother's arm, and she swept outside. Chris followed them but Ezra stopped Buck from following them.

"Buck, do you have any idea who that is?"

"Yeah, it's Vin's Mama, Sofia. Step-mother I suppose but I don't get the idea that matters. He's told us about her."

"Sofia _Silverlake_ my dear Mr. Wilmington. He never mentioned the family name. They own – well they own nearly their entire county back in Texas." He stared out the still swinging doors. "I had no idea."

Chris followed behind Vin and Mrs. Silverlake down the boardwalk. She was talking practically without pause to Vin, entirely in Spanish, and he was only able to slip in an occasional 'no Mama' or 'sí Mama'. Despite the grief Tom's short visit had put Vin through last spring, it did seem Tanner was finally getting a happy ending to at least one part of his life.

At the end of the boardwalk, Mrs. Silverlake put up her parasol and they turned into the alley where there sat the finest carriage Chris had ever seen in this town. Up at the head of the carriage, checking the harness of the two matched grays, was a tall man who Chris recognized as Tommy, Tom's oldest son and Vin's oldest brother.

"Tomasito," their mother called to him. "You see I have found our pródigo."

"Vin!"

It was amazing how alike Vin and Tommy looked. Same long hair, same lanky build. Tommy was taller, maybe even taller than Tom Sr. He wore no hat but was turned out in as fine a rig as his mother was wearing, a fancy gray suit with spotless white collar and cuffs, an impressive cravat, and a gold watch chain across his vest.

"Look at you!" When he was close enough, Tommy grabbed Vin by the shoulders and have him an affectionate shake, which scattered more dust. "Still can't stay away from a fight, can you Small Fry?"

"Yeah, at least I ain't dressed like I'm running for office." By his grin, Vin was thrilled to see his brother again.

"You know when you escort 'La Jefa' -," Tommy smiled at his mother, "You must dress the part." He smiled more broadly and gave Vin another dust-scattering shake. "Look at you."

"Where's everybody else?" Vin asked. "I expected the town to be swarming with y'all by now. Where's Max n'Robert n'Eugene and – and Pa?"

"We had just a little trouble at the train station. I got to escort Mama here to find you while the rest stayed behind to sort things out." Tommy's voice was easy enough, but Vin stiffened.

"What kinda trouble?" Vin asked. His voice had lost the excitement of reuniting with his family. He was concerned. When Tommy didn't answer immediately, Vin turned to Sofia. "What trouble?"

"Just Eugene was feeling poorly." Tommy said. "Pa and Max are just coming a little slower is all."

"Is he all right? They got a doctor in that town? We got Nathan here you know, whatever he needs."

"He's just feeling poorly." Tommy said again. "We hired three coaches to bring the family, and they're coming slower. Mama had to have her carriage and we hotfooted it right out here to find you. They're coming."

For the first time in the proceedings, Vin turned to look at Chris. He could see that Vin was worrying on it.

"Let's ride out and meet 'em."

tbc


End file.
